ANTHRO 106/ ANTHRO 106G: Week ROCK 60 s British Invasion Beatles Folk Festivals Psychedelia. ROCK 70 s Progressive rock Glam Stadium rock

Transcription

1 ANTHRO 106/ ANTHRO 106G: Week ROCK 60 s British Invasion Beatles Folk Festivals Psychedelia ROCK 70 s Progressive rock Glam Stadium rock Sixties politics 1963 end of Rock'n'roll Beginnings of "rock." 1963 John Kennedy assassinated Viet Nam Martin Luther King Civil Rights movement The Beatles Top five singles of the year on the British Charts 1964: 1 "Can't Buy Me Love" Beatles 2 "A Hard Day's Night" Beatles 3 "I Feel Fine" Beatles 4 "Oh Pretty Woman" Roy Orbison 5 "You're My World" Cilla Black Top five albums of the year on the British Charts 1964: 1 "Beatles for Sale" Beatles 2 "A Hard Day's Night" Beatles 3 "With the Beatles" Beatles 4 "Rolling Stones" Rolling Stones 5 "Wonderful Life" Cliff Richard and the Shadows British invasion A musical movement of the mid-1960s, the British Invasion was composed of British rock-and-roll ("beat") groups whose popularity spread rapidly to the United States. The Beatles' arrival in New York in 1964, opened America's doors to a British musical talent. British youth loved the frantic beats and suggestive lyrics of American rock and roll. Initial attempts to replicate it failed possibly due to their lacking the indigenous basic ingredients of rock and roll-- rhythm and blues, and country. In the late '50s, skiffle bands, (like the Beatles-launching Quarrymen) were drummerless acoustic guitar-and-banjo ensembles, jug bands, who sang traditional American folk songs. By 1962, self-schooled in the music of Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, and Muddy Waters, British teens had a feel for the rock-and-roll idiom. Blending that with local traditions 1

2 like dance hall, and Celtic folk, they formulated a music they could claim, play, and sing with conviction. Liverpool became the first hotbed of the "beat boom." With the Beatles, other male quartets such as the Searchers, the Fourmost, and Gerry and the Pacemakers--plus the quintet Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas--launched "Merseybeat,". The Beatles first reached the British record charts in late 1962; the rest joined the hit parade in The Dave Clark 5 2. The Yardbirds 3. The Zombies 4. The Kinks 5. Gerry and the Pacemakers 6. The Hollies 7. Herman s Hermits 8. Manfred Mann 9. Rolling stones From 1964 to 1966 the United Kingdom sent a stream of hits across the Atlantic. By the 1967, a proliferation of English and American bands were equal partners in one international rock culture. Gerry & The Pacemakers Ferry Cross The Mersey The Dave Clark Five Bits & Pieces The Kinks Sunny Afternoon Hermans Hermits I m into something good Studio Production The Beatles A Day In The Life The Beach Boys God only knows experiments and changes in rock music. Beatles and the Beach Boys: By 1965 these groups became more studio-oriented and less interested in performance-friendly songs. Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys had a nervous breakdown while on tour at the beginning of 1965, so he stopped touring and concentrated on working in the studio. John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles also became more interested in production, collaborating with producer George Martin. In 1966 the Beatles announced that they would no longer tour at all and retired full-time to the recording studio. John was particularly interested in using recording tricks in Beatles songs, and the subject matter of their songs was becoming more and more openly radical. Brian, meanwhile, was now working completely with studio musicians, often using 25 musicians at a time in what was in effect the first rock-orchestra. He stopped writing songs in the traditional manner, instead "constructing" songs out of recorded bits and pieces saw the release of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and the Beach Boys' Smiley Smile. Sgt. Pepper was a complete and revolutionary album, full of weird effects and songs about drugs. Smiley Smile was also a revolutionary album, full of weird effects and songs about drugs. But it was not a finished album. Brian went through another breakdown, this time caused by LSD, and the album he released wound up a pale imitation of what he had intended to produce. Sgt. Pepper became the anthem for 1967's "Summer of Love;" it was the height of flower power, arty progressive music that seemed to influence the social fabric, and of the youth movement's naive sense that a new age was about to dawn. Beach boys Pet sounds 2

3 1) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band The most important rock & roll album ever made, an unsurpassed adventure in concept, sound, songwriting, cover art and studio technology by the greatest rock & roll group of all time. From the title song's regal blasts of brass and fuzz guitar to the orchestral seizure and long, dying piano chord at the end of "A Day in the Life," the thirteen tracks on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band are the pinnacle of the Beatles' eight years as recording artists. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were never more fearless and unified in their pursuit of magic and transcendence. the eighth album by The Beatles. It is often cited as their magnum opus and one of the most influential albums of all time by prominent critics and publications, ranking number 1 on Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003.It was recorded by the Beatles over a 129-day period beginning December ) Revolver Revolver, finally, signaled that in popular music, anything -- any theme, any musical idea -- could now be realized. Revolver extends the more adventurous aspects of its predecessor (Rubber Soul)-- its introspection, its nascent psychedelia, its fascination with the possibilities of the studio -- into a dramatic statement of generational purpose. The album, which was released in August 1966, made it thrillingly clear that what we now think of as "the Sixties" was fully -- and irreversibly -- under way. Eleanor Rigby 5) Rubber Soul Released in December 1965 Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" Beatles rising to meet the challenge. musical sophistication and a greater thematic depth without sacrificing a whit of pop appeal. "There was a lot of experimentation on Rubber Soul," said Ringo Starr, "influenced, I think, by the substances." Nowhere Man 14) Abbey Road Recorded in two months in on the verge of breakup. Their most polished album. No thematic link, other than the Beatles' unique genius. Last time all four members were together in the studio they had made famous. Total album sales: 12 million Peak chart position: 1 Come Together Folk Music o Topical o Activist o Attitude of superiority to the mainstream o Acoustic o self-consciously political o Sincere, serious o Deep, socially relevant 3

4 Phil Ochs - There But For Fortune Joan Baez The night they drove ole Dixie down Bob Dylan Live at Newport folk festival Bob Dylan Interview 1965 Simon and Garfunkel Sound of Silence Peter, Paul and Mary Blowing in the Wind As the United States headed into the turbulent sixties, folk music led an artistic charge. We Shall Overcome became the cornerstone song for the Civil Rights movement. Up north, folk musicians like Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs played and recorded their own protest songs against discrimination. Folk music was the first 60 s music to become socially relevant. Although 1950s rock and roll may have been revolutionary in its energy and its flouting of social conventions, it was not self-consciously political. In the 1960s, however, a generation of baby boomers matured against a social and historical backdrop which included the threat of nuclear proliferation, the winding down of McCarthyism, the struggle for civil rights and the war in Vietnam. Teenagers and young adults began to view their parents' values and politics as increasingly reactionary and an anti-establishment counterculture was born. As the mouthpiece of this generation, rock music began to influence social change in addition to reflecting it. Of the myriad of music styles popular in the early 1960s, folk music was the first to become socially relevant. The most important figure of the 1960s folk boom was Bob Dylan who invented the singersongwriter genre. Inspired by people like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, Dylan wrote deeply resonant topical songs, some of which ("Masters of War," "Blowin' in the Wind") were first published in Broadside, a mimeographed magazine started by Seeger in 1961 for the express purpose of generating contemporary topical songs. Seeger's plan worked and the 1960s saw a topical song explosion on a scale which hadn't been seen since the union-organizing days of the 1930s. Although Dylan essentially renounced conventional politics after his 1964 album, The Times They Are A- Changin', the trend he helped put in motion was profoundly influential. In addition, Dylan's social unconventionality and his attitude of superiority to mainstream culture would prove to be central to the lifestyle and music of the San Francisco psychedelic scene in the mid-to-late 1960s. Female protest singers like Judy Collins, Joan Baez, and Joni Mitchell gained wide popularity. By 1965, the number of folk/protest artists was huge Inspired by Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan wrote deeply resonant topical songs. Dylan's social unconventionality and his attitude of superiority to mainstream culture would prove to be central to the lifestyle and music of the San Francisco psychedelic scene in the mid-to-late 1960s at the Newport Folk Festival Bob Dylan turned up to perform with an electric guitar, and was practically booed off the stage, but he forged a new path for folk music. His new sound resulted in a groundbreaking hybrid of activist rock and roll. In 1965, the Beatles released Rubber Soul, one of the classic folk rock records. The Beatles had evolved beyond feelings of teenage love and into more serious political and social issues. Simon and Garfunkel scored a folk-rock hit with "The Sounds of Silence," one of the cornerstone songs of In 1966, they placed three albums and four singles in the Top Thirty, including "I Am a Rock" (#3) and "Homeward Bound" (#5). They did the albums Bookends and Bridge Over Troubled Water, and soundtrack contributions to the film The Graduate. Also in 1963, Peter, Paul and Mary's version of Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" broke onto traditional southern R&B stations and became the unofficial anthem of the civil rights movement. Folk performers spoke out against injustice and discrimination, spreading a socially-conscious stance to a generation of young Americans Folk performers helped make 1964 and 1965 "freedom summers." Dylan, Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary, and Harry Belafonte performed during the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.'s March on Washington in 1963 where he gave his famous "I have a dream" speech. 4

5 Always supportive of populist causes, 1960s folk music first embraced the civil rights movement. Although music had not been a direct organizing force in the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycotts of 1955 and 1956, by the 1960 lunch-counter sit-ins, "freedom songs" had become central to the movement. Northern singers such as Dylan, Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and Peter, Paul and Mary traveled south to sing at rallies and churches. Supplemented by hundreds of amateur singers as well as black and white college students working as civil rights volunteers, these performers helped make 1964 and 1965 "freedom summers." Dylan, Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary, Odetta and Harry Belafonte performed during the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.'s March on Washington in 1963 where he gave his famous "I have a dream" speech. Also in 1963, Peter, Paul and Mary's version of Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" broke onto traditional southern R&B stations and became the unofficial anthem of the civil rights movement. Through folk music, performers spoke out against injustice and discrimination, spreading their socially-conscious stance to a generation of young Americans and musicians who began to incorporate meaningful lyrics into their songs. and black pride were beginning to take hold with a younger generation of African-Americans. Festivals 1967 "Summer of Love;" it was the height of flower power, arty progressive music that seemed to influence the social fabric, and of the youth movement's naive sense that a new age was about to dawn. By the mid-to-late sixties, musicians in the San Francisco Bay area, including such bands as the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service, began to influence both rock music and society at large. Centered around leftist politics, hallucinogenic drugs, tribal spirit and music, the hippie counterculture challenged authority and galvanized young people already alienated from an adult world. Long hair and rock music became symbols of the struggle against social convention. Beginning in 1965 when Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters staged the first acid tests backed by the music of the Grateful Dead, psychedelic experiments influenced a generation searching for meaning in an increasingly confusing and disturbing world. By the "Summer of Love" in 1967 hippie culture swept the nation. As the Vietnam War escalated, the anti-war movement became strongly associated with both the folk and psychedelic scenes. Rock festivals became gathering places not only for music fans but for non-conformists and social rebels of all kinds. The power of rock music as a catalyst for social change is exemplified by the rock festival at Woodstock in 1969 where 400,000 people participated in a group cheer denouncing the draft and U.S. involvement in southeast Asia. Long hair and rock music became symbols of the struggle against social convention. By the "Summer of Love" in 1967 hippie culture swept the nation. Human Be-In held 1967 in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. 20,000 Officially dubbed THE FIRST ANNUAL MONTEREY INTERNATIONAL POP MUSIC FESTIVAL, the event provided a weekend filled with unique and amazing sights, sounds, and experiences. The Mamas and The Papas Canned Heat Big Brother & The Holding Company w Janis Joplin The Jefferson Airplane The Jimi Hendrix Experience The Who The Byrds Country Joe and The Fish Lou Rawls Otis Redding 5

6 Booker T. and The MG's Ravi Shankar The Grateful Dead The Steve Miller Band The Paul Butterfield Blues Band Buffalo Springfield Simon and Garfunkel 1969 Woodstock 450,000-person three-day festival The Woodstock Music and Art Fair in 1969 drew more than 450,000 people to a field near Bethel, New York state in what has become the largest rock concert of the decade. Woodstock became a symbol of the 1960s American counterculture and a milestone in the history of rock music. Prominent among those attending were members of the counterculture, who were often referred to as hippies and who characteristically rejected materialism and authority, protested against the Vietnam War, supported the civil rights movement, dressed unconventionally, and experimented with sex and illicit drugs Rainstorms failed to dampen the spirits of the revellers, many high on marijuana, some dancing naked in the muddy fields. There were two deaths - a teenager was killed by a tractor as he lay in his sleeping bag and another died from a drug overdose. The Jimi Hendrix Experience Foxy Lady Creedence Clearwater Revival "Fortunate Son" Psychedelia Iron Butterfly In- A-Gadda-Da-Vida Jefferson Airplane White Rabbit Musical experimentation, counter culture, rebellion, drug use Album covers, Eastern Philosophy and symbolism DECADE 1968 Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King assassinated 1969 Woodstock and Altamont 1969, Janis Joplin, and Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, died of drug overdoses Beatles broke up and Diana Ross left the Supremes. Jimi Hendrix dies, drug overdose 1971 Motown moves from Detroit to Los Angeles. The musical decade of the sixties was over psychedelia On the American West Coast bands like The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead and Country Joe and The Fish strove to push back the musical barriers beyond the three-minute pop format. It was also closely allied with the growth of the counter culture, centred in San Francisco during '66 and '67. The hippies had their own newspapers and shops as they espoused their alternative lifestyle to the rampant materialism prevalent throughout America. Free concerts and light shows became an integral part of the hippie experience with music providing the soundtrack to the cultural revolution. In Britain, psychedelia was less associated with politics, perhaps because the issue of civil rights or the Vietnam war were not as directly relevant and the tradition of left-wing politics was already well 6

7 established. Still it soon found its own cultural impetus as the underground movement reacted against the prejudices and hypocrisies of the British class system. The Doors Break On Through (To the Other Side) 1970 s There was a growth in self-awareness, an emphasis on skill and technique, and the notion of art as individual expression (progressive) Basis of consciousness of themselves as musicians in artistic and ideological terms Felt they created music from their own subjectivity and emotions, inner psychic forces Sound experiments Rock music (or rock musicians) was/were a carrier and expression of a generation consciousness Prog Rock Progressive rock ("prog") is an ambitious, eclectic, and often grandiose style of rock music which arose in the late 1960s principally in England, reaching the peak of its popularity in the early 1970s. Progressive rock was largely a European movement, and drew most of its influences from classical music and jazz fusion, in contrast to American rock, which was influenced by rhythm & blues and country. Psychedelic music Jimi Hendrix and early Pink Floyd Progressive rock artists sought to move away from the limitations of radio formatted rock and pop, and "progress" rock to the point that it could achieve the sophistication of jazz or classical music. It is admired by its fans for its complexity, requiring a high level of musical virtuosity to perform. Long songs Classical and jazz influences Virtuosity Lyrics that convey intricate and sometimes impenetrable narratives, covering such themes as science fiction, fantasy, history, religion, war, love, and madness. Concept albums, in which a theme or storyline is explored throughout an entire album in a manner similar to a film or a play. Bands Genesis, Yes, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Deep Purple, Jethro Tull King Crimson The Court Of The Crimson King Genesis White Mountain Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick" Pink Floyd Us and them Popularity peaked in the mid-1970s, when prog artists regularly topped readers' votes in mainstream popular music magazines. With the advent of punk rock in the late 1970s, popular and critical opinion moved toward a simpler and more aggressive style of rock, with progressive rock increasingly dismissed as pretentious and overblown. This attitude has remained in place to the present day. Sfetcu, Nicolae. The Music Sound. Nicolae Sfetcu, Glam Rock T-Rex Children of The Revolution British '70s outrageous theatricality. 7

8 campy, glitzy showmanship and sexuality. Played with gender conventions- outlandish androgynous costumes and makeup T. Rex, Gary Glitter, Sweet, Slade, David Bowie, Roxy Music I wish to acknowledge that all of the processes of production, performance, and reception take place within the contexts of the socio-cultural conventions of the societies in which they occur, conventions that popular music both reflects and contests. The gender ambiguities of glam rockers personae, for example, challenged the gender norms of American and European societies in the early 1970s. The performance of glam was a safe cultural space in which to experiment with versions of masculinity that clearly flouted those norms. Glam rock was in this respect a performance practice through which alternative realities could be enacted and tested. Inasmuch as glam rock was almost completely dominated by men and took the performance of masculinity as its terrain, however, it was also entirely in line with the conventions of rock as a traditionally male-dominated cultural form that evolved from male dominated cultural and social contexts. Popular music is not entirely constrained by dominant ideologies, but neither is it entirely free of their influence. Auslander, Philip. "Performance analysis and popular music: A manifesto." Contemporary Theatre Review 14.1 (2004): Stadium Rock 70 s Led Zeppelin Black Dog Eagles Hotel California Commercially oriented and radio-friendly Hard rock High quality production Anthemic choruses, power ballads Masculinity, sexuality, drugs Electric guitars, keyboards Theatricality, spectacle) 8